Quote:
Originally Posted by stoked64
Thanks to all for the positive comments. For those who are not familiar with Dr. Dom Coric from Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates. Dr Coric is one of the top US neurosurgeon that specializes in ADR and several on this board recommended.
Dr Coric concluded that my MRI's don't show significant impingement or stenosis that would convince him to operate. My EMG clearly show Chronic Radiculopathy of the L5 nerve root (as opposed to Acute) but because this is chronic and not acute there is no surgery that would rectify/repair this issue.
He did say, that even though the nerve could still repair itself; he was not confident that I would see further significant improvement because it has been a full year with no improvement.
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I couldn't walk on my left leg prior to surgery without it going dead, and my mri's never showed nerve impingement or stenosis. I still get some sciatica sometimes, but the pain and dysfunction around my left hip and leg isn't as bad as it was pre-surgery. Maybe issues were more bio-mechanical in nature, and still are. There is an expensive scan you could still try called an MR Nuerography, which deals solely with looking at nerves to try and locate impingements or compressions....it's a long shot, but it is a shot none-the-less. It would cost at least 3 grand to have it done, unless you have really good insurance. That's the trouble sometimes, if the doctor can't visibly see defects, they can't convince insurances to cover their procedures. Anything other than would be "exploratory" surgery, and they would never do that unless there is justifiable cause with near conclusive evidence of where the problem site is.
You are in a tough situation my friend. I suggest you send your scans overseas and have a credible European surgeon take a look, try a couple of them, and see what they tell you. If they don't see anything that can benefit you, try the scan i was telling you about, what have you got to lose besides some cash flow.
Reading over all you had done...you've had alot of work done that hasn't involved the discs themselves, except for that microdiscectomy. I take it your discs look pretty good on an MRI??